Alien backstab bonus?
RejZoR
Slovenia Join Date: 2013-09-24 Member: 188450Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
Slovenia Join Date: 2013-09-24 Member: 188450Members, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow
I've talked about this with one of the testers during playtest yesterday and I'm wondering why it hasn't been implemented yet (or at least considered and tested).
I love playing slow with aliens, waiting for prey to get past and then bite them from behind in the ass. But I realized, other than not being seen, such tactic doesn't really have ANY other benefit. In most cases when you land, you make a noise and alert the marine unless you strike absolutely directly which is in most cases almost impossible anyway. Why not give additional damage bonus to skulks (and potentially even to other aliens since being a sneaky bastard is the whole point of aliens) if they land a bite to the back of the marine? With the recent developments in improved hit reg and existing strafe jumping, skulks are really nerfed to the max if you ask me. It's already bad as it is when a superior moving alien has to chase a strafe jumping marine around like a little puppy, but with dead on hit reg, it just gets even worse. That's what I've observed.
I love playing slow with aliens, waiting for prey to get past and then bite them from behind in the ass. But I realized, other than not being seen, such tactic doesn't really have ANY other benefit. In most cases when you land, you make a noise and alert the marine unless you strike absolutely directly which is in most cases almost impossible anyway. Why not give additional damage bonus to skulks (and potentially even to other aliens since being a sneaky bastard is the whole point of aliens) if they land a bite to the back of the marine? With the recent developments in improved hit reg and existing strafe jumping, skulks are really nerfed to the max if you ask me. It's already bad as it is when a superior moving alien has to chase a strafe jumping marine around like a little puppy, but with dead on hit reg, it just gets even worse. That's what I've observed.
Comments
Anyway, notice the implication here. Who is this change going to benefit first and foremost? The rookie? No. Way.
The veterans, will not only be the quickest to adopt this mechanic in their repertoire, they will also be the best at adapting and countering it.
The more skilled, and thus more aware, the marine is; the less likely you are to get a backstab in. The rookies however, already don't notice what hit them a lot of the time..
So I believe, this change will do nothing to ease the already massive skill gaps that NS2 suffer from, on the contrary.
If a marine is gunning you down you are simply caught out of position.
Ballerina marines look stupid and also negates the point just above here. A marine caught out of position can still use his dance dance revolution skills to counter a successful ambush. Complaint number two from newbies is, "wtf are they marines constantly jumping like dipshits, it looks stupid and is unfair"
Better hitreg has been known to screw over aliens before as well
And IF marines jumping is a huge problem (I'm not convinced that it is) - then THAT should be addressed, why bandaid it with a backstab mechanic? That is not addressing the marine mobility problem at all.
If doing a back hit registering mechanic is too difficult, then tackle this in some other way to give aliens some sort of meaning to be stealthy and sneaky. Buffing up health imo isn't a solution because that also changes the face to face combat and technically entire balance.
This especially applies because the shade hive is in 99% times used in the very end when it frankly doesn't even matter because you're most likely already winning so much to be able to afford it as a third hive and or the enemy already has observatories all over the map which again makes it irrelevant except for the wallhack thingie.
What I'm saying here is that everyone is saying the whole point of aliens is to be sneaky and yet you can't really practice that properly and make any meaningful benefit from it. Not being seen or heard is not exactly a special benefit because you can do that with a marine as well. Just remember all the times you crouch walked around with a buffed up shotgun taking down skulks by a surprise. Yeah, that...
Not exactly, Rookies will die even quicker than usual to their frustration.
OK I think we misunderstand each other here. I'm talking about the fact that improvements to hitregistration, is inherently going to favor marines, because more bullets will register in the same amount of time, with the same amount of skill - therefore they should re-balance the face-to-face combat as well, as hit reg improves.
Idk who says aliens is about being sneaky.
Being tactical, is its own benefit. Being sneaky is tactical. I'd say, aliens is about closing distance with as much hp as possible - one way to do that is to be sneaky. Another is to wait around a corner. Another is to work in a group. The benefit is inherent in the tactic you use, no need for artificial buffs imo.
When you have no shade, if you just plan on rushing around, they will hear you across half the map and then you have to 100% rely on luck, hit reg being registered correctly and home the marine sucks more than you do. What kind of shitty tactic is that?
I believe this was removed for a reason, and I share the thought of it being only negative for newcomers as not everyone can jump while biting around a marine.
It is nice to know that a bite is a bite, and never a third of one as previously. It helps in some scenario to know that a teammate did a certain number of bites. This already being "skill" related, it would only add "unpredictiveness" to the game; and why add that ?
Also this would change the way marine position themselves. While it is already very important, this only favor having a back against a wall, which I feel wouldn't be a nice mechanic to add.
Red
Seriously though - It can be annoying enough with the random spawn locations and fieldplayers' spawn within that location. Lets keep that to the only random/situational thing.
I dont understand the thoughtprocess of failing in game, goes strait to thinking about new features. Instead, figure out how/why things go wrong. Submit a video of the situation and people will happily help you. My first thought of your troubles is ping. If you manage to sneak up on a marine, dont bite him and keep sitting on your ass, keep moving - the marine WILL turn around and shoot at you. At this point you should already have moved, and either guessed to where he wanted to go, or gotten to a wall to dis- then reengage. Gluing too a marine can be hard, but skulks are faster. If landing the bites after the dodging begins, I can recommend crazy's new alienvision with bite aid.